The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-16
LoNDoN's POLICEMEN.
What METROPOLITAN Officer May and May
Not Do

must be five feet seven inches in height, not
over thirty five years of age, and have not more
| than two children depending on him for sup
| port Before appointment he must undergo a
medical examination, while his history and an
tecedents thoroughly overhauled by detect
ives in plain clothes. He must be able to write
| legibie hand, spell with some degree of accur-
acy, in case it is necessary to write out report
In London a policeman is supposed to be
| everything. The uniform. the helmet, the regu-
| lation boots and the club the ordinary
| man. with ordinary education, and not more
than two children, into mutitudinous charac-
ter. He must be polite and forbearing IN his
| aeameanor; silent and watchful. He
must neither gossip lounge Good tenn
per is necessary, aud civility indispen BILE,
pecially to ladies, foreigners and strangers
His desert ptive faculties must be equal to nov
| eists. He must be able to give a description
| off hand of the height, build. hair. eyebrows,
! forehead eyes, nose. mouth. chin, face, COM
plexion, beard. mustache. and dress of gen
tleman is wanted" corpse found. an es-
capped criminal, clipping husband or decamp-
ing bank cashier. He must know at a glance
| whether man is drunk, suffering from apo
| plexy sunstroke or insensible from Illness He
| must always be in readiness to take down
| dying declarations, and must never fail to get
in: 81, Bill Jones. having the fear of death
before me, and being without the hope of
| recovery" etc. He must have fair
| must be careful In dealing with loose women
| and instantly discern the difference between a
noble lord on a frolic, medical student IN his
cups and a butcher drunk The first Of
Tense, accompanied by knocking down and kick
ing police officer, is punished by a forty -shlll-
ing fine ($l0l; the second offense, with less de-
gree of brutality. fine of five pounds 1921. and
the third class of offense, accompanied by brief
resistance of the officer, with fine of five pounds
and twenty-one days imprisonment A mem Der
of the force must famlliarize himself with all
these nice distinctions OF metropolitan police
court law.
Not only has the London policemen to decide
the incest interpretations of law, but he
must invade the fields of medicine and surgery
and know how to treat people who have at
tempted to drown, hang or poison themselves,
cut their throats. Nor is this all police
man must be elocutionist. He must know
how to read the riot act with the proper infec-
tons on God save the Queen" In the witness
box he must tell all he knows and no more,
and under discrimination keep his temper.
He must have views" no opinion, poll
tics, slang, treat all judges with the tut
most Difference and respect" and have nothing
whatever to do with newspapers and newspaper
men. On his beat the policeman must pick up
orange peel, watch old junk shops keep an eye
pawn-brokers call attention to;chimney fires,
watch suspected persons, mark places at night
with pins, cotton, whalebone and match wood;
inform landlords Of furniture removing and
householders of ''goines on" of the servants,
deal with incorrigible children. take lost and
strayed animals to the green yard, watch ticket
ofeave men, see that gn-mills close at mid
Eight and accept no testimonials Having en-
tered on this tempting career and faithfully per-
formed these multitudnous duties, the model
'thirty bob" ISL 5o week. What a career for
young men. And having YEARLY trod the beat
for forty fifty years, he is retired on pension
small, to be sure. but enough TO sustain the body
until the beat of life has been trodden and the
end has come.
The picture have drawn above is what is ex-
pected of a London policeman. rather than what
he actually is. Yet / have always found him
polite-always found him ready to answer q
question civiliy. and have more than once
marveled at the control he kept over his temper
In a force of IA, 600 5000 men there
naturally good many scamps. Some accept
brides, no doubt, from women of the town,
others drink oo,a from fam. and
pretty cooks but rule the London police
seem TO me, and have walked the streets
of the metropolis for nearly four months, a very
creditable lot of fellows who try to fill difficult
position with as little friction possible. The
idea pervading the Metropolitan police force
and it is good one is that it is better to prevent
crime than to run up the column of arrests.
Over-ofciousness on the part Of the police is
not tolerated. The police in London dare
the club and knock people about with the
freedom prevailing In some of the large Amer1-
cities
prostitutes, were apprehended in London.
This shows how extensively the police deal with
this class, and it is perhaps surprising that more
mistakes are not made. Then come the army
of drunkards, 10000 strong, and some years
80, 900. They have to be into the station
houses at night, and out next morning
by their friends. Curiously enough. there are
in London about many licensed houses for
the sale of intoxicating drinks there are po-
licemen, namely. Ia, 230. 1t does not always
arrests Qrunk6n0ES
est where the public houses are most numerous
The division of Whitechapei heads the gloomy
list, and boasts nearly 2. 500 annual arrests for
drunkenness, and that of Holborn follows
Yet Holborn has or licenses and
Whitechapel 795. On the other hand,
the aristocratic division of Kensington has
less thanh 252 licenses and less than 1.500 ar
rests. 1t may De that Bill Sykes, of White
chapel, is more noisy in his cups than Lord
Snlffenrake, of kensington, or it may be that
Bill is :" run in" at a stage when my lord is
balm poav ha he wis nat Tha
fact, however, remains that with nearly double
the number of licenses Kensington has one thou
sand less arrests for drunkenness per annum
than Whitechapel.
And now a word about the pay of the London
police force. The actual pay of the police comes
to little over So 000 900 year There are five
chief constabes, with salaries commencing at
81. 900 and rising 1925 year to 81, 000 There
are twenty-eight superintendent. with salaries
and allowances varying from 81. $50 year to ST.
375 year; then come 63O inspectors whose pay
varies from $40 to 81 755 There is only at the
highest rate. but twenty eight have over ST, 900
year each, and $50 have between $500 and
81 600 a year. The sergeants number 1,162.
eight of whom have more than $3.50 year. PIP
have more than $500, and all the rest from $445
to $495 year. OF the II, 984 plain constables
the highest pay received by SO of them is SAT-,
and the lowest, given to 3,Ol9 is 1913. There
allowances for coal; the inspectors,
serseants and constables /are supplied
with clothing, and the police employed on
special duty receive allowances varying from
fifty cents to So week, the greater portion of
which IS PAID Dy those VINO employ them. There
are also twenty inspectors 1O3 sergeants and
]. 090 constables attached to the reserve force,
who receive a weekly allowance of 81, seventy
five cents and thirty-fve cents respectively.
Thus, any emergency additional /, 200 men
can be called into the field. The total cost OF
the Metropolitan police for last year was SIS, 461,-
O20.
In the preparation of this article on the Lon
don police force l have had the assistance of
two remarkable men-probably the best
authorities the subject in the world-Mr.
Howard Vincent. NJ. P. and Mr.. Balch. of
Philadelphia. Mr.. Vincent was the first and
last Director of Criminal Investg CATION He
began his career in the army, and made him
self famous for the study Of countries and Ian
guages. In 1877 he was employed by the Daily
Telegraph special correspondent for the
Russo Turkish war, at a salary of 10000 He
has been ad mitted 20 both the English and the
French bars. and has studied the police force of
every civilized country in the world II 1878
the scandal caused by the discovery that several
G asl.a* N=~l -